Evaluation of media advocacy efforts within a community trial to reduce alcohol-involved injury. Preliminary newspaper results

This article examines coverage of alcohol-related topics in local newspapers as applied to a conceptual model of media advocacy being tested in a five-component community trial to reduce alcohol-involved injuries. Based on a literature review of determinants of exposure of newspaper articles, it uses a composite measure that takes into account the likelihood that given articles will be read. This measure is evaluated in terms of the timing of media advocacy training, technical consultation, and resulting media advocacy efforts. Three hypotheses find support. First, postintervention levels of coverage across experimental communities appear generally higher than similar preintervention coverage. Second, although postintervention local and county coverage appears higher across experimental communities, no equivalent effect is present across comparison communities. Third, increases in local and county coverage in experimental communities were not matched by increases in state and national coverage in these communities.